Today as I got out of my truck at the hardware store my smartphone slipped out of my baggy sweatshirt pocket. It landed on its corner on the concrete and slid. It was not in its cover because I don't leave it in its cover when I'm not at work. The cover would easily have protected it from this impact.

The corner is dented sufficiently that it creates a bubble in the screen protector. The phone's original pristine beauty is defeated. Some part of me suffers, but then my better parts tell that part Be calm. Everything goes through this. You yourself are already experiencing the skeletal effects of aging. Would you be 19 again?

Now I have the benefit of no longer being the owner of a precious object. I can go about my business as a human. In fact, now I feel more like I own this phone than I had before today.